Sins of Betrayal
by Mystical Spork
Summary: Robin learns some hard truths about Slade, and himself. ONEshot. NONslash.


**Sins of Betrayal**

_Authors' note/complete and utter disclaimer: _

_  
This story in no absolute way reflecting the ideas of Wiley Card. All flames shall be sent to Mulch Diggums. _**Mulch Diggums shall then use all Flames to burn the house of whoever cancelled Teen Titans! **_Once again, this does not reflect Wiley Card's views. While she would gladly punish the person who cancelled Teen Titans, she is only co-writing this because Mulch Diggums has tied her to a chair and forced her to eat several pounds of hummus._** Mulch Diggums here to defend her view. IT IS SOOOOOOOOO THE RIGHT ONE! Ha! Since this is taking so long, I'll have to hand the keyboard back over to Wiley Card for her to disclaim the story.** _Thank you, M.D., for untying me long enough to type. Okay, this idea is Mulch Diggums's, I've tried to explain to her many times that it's rather wrong to consider it, but like I said, I have no particular choice but to help my so-called friend write this thing! _**You offered! Now, since you can't disclaim a story, here it is:**

**We don't own the characters……. But if we did…. This would be on TV.**_ No it wouldn't! I'd kill you before I saw this go on T.V! And if I hadn't offered now then you'd keep nagging me for the rest of my life. Okay, enough of this back and forth talk, onto the story!_

The rain pounded the windows of the tower mercilessly, unbeknownst to the Teens inside.

"Beast Boy. _What_ have I told you about this?" Raven's monotone was rather louder then usual.

Scratching his head, the changeling replied, "I don't know. I thought it was one of your usual rants so I ignored you." Robin rolled his eyes, looking up from his maps and other Slade related things.

"Would you two be quiet? How am I supposed to concentrate on my work with you two refusing to close your mouths?" He wheeled around angrily to face his two feuding friends.

"Robin! Who or what has caused you to be agitated on this beautiful rainy morning?" The stunning Tameranian princess asked.

Beast Boy replied for him. 'Robin's obsessing again."

"I am not!"

"Robin! You've been up all night, just staring at those maps and stuff. What are you looking for?" Cyborg, the half robot of the group, finally looked up from the video game he was currently winning.

Robin's fingers entwined in his raven hair. "Don't any of you get it! I'm looking for answers!"

In his minds' eye he could almost see it. The elusive answer, the cause of all the crime. But there was something, some mysterious force that seemed to block his logic.

'Why do you do this? How do you know everything about me? Who are you?' Those questions plagued the Boy Wonder's mind night and day. They would continue to do so until the mystery surrounding them was solved.

Robin's train of thought was halted with an awful screech when Beast Boy ran past with a shout.

"BEAST BOY! I'M GOING TO RIP YOUR HEART OUT, STICK IT IN A BLENDER AND SEND THAT BLENDER TO THE NETHERVERSE!"

"Aw, come on Rae. It's not like you can't fix it!"

An infuriated Raven appeared from the kitchen, holding up a strawberry colored cloak. "FIX THIS! I'M GOING TO THROW IT IN A FIRE-ALONG WITH YOU!"

Her planned arson and homicide was delayed slightly by a blaring alarm.

The screen flashed on to reveal a map of the city. Slade's seal flashed near the city's center. "Finally." Robin whispered.

* * *

"Star! Behind you!" Green bolts of energy flashed. "Cy! To your left!" A fist smashed. "Robin! Beast Boy! Above you!" A green tiger leaped, a birdarang flew. "Raven! Quick, to the right!" A large piece of rubble rose to smash three of their foes.

But none of it was helping. Two more of Slade's robots seemed to appear for every one that was knocked down. In short, the Titans found themselves ambushed and overwhelmed.

A figure appeared from the rising dust. "Slade." Never had Robin managed to put so much disgust, contempt, and sarcasm into one word. Heavy with the emotions, it seemed to fling itself across the space that separated them.

"Hello, Robin." He called. His voice seeped with disrespect. It was almost as if he enjoyed having Robin hate him.

Robin surveyed the semi-circle of goons that guarded the titans. Slade stood about two yards away, and the open end of the circle. He looked at each of his teammates, his friends.

They stared back at him. Each said the same thing in their determined eyes.

'Stop him.'

He nodded. "What do you want? Do you still want me, Slade?" He allowed a hint of mocking laughter to enter his voice. "Are you still jealous of the Titans?"

"Jealous? My boy, no force on Earth could make me want to be one of your friends."

Robin gave a short nod. Then, with a yell, he launched himself into the air, feeling the wake of Starfire beginning to fly.

Throwing his leg out with the intent to incapacitate Slade with a blow to the head, he was caught by surprise when Slade jammed his fist into is vulnerable ribs before the attack could be completed. Robin felt himself be thrown a few feet back by the sheer force of the hit.

"You shouldn't always start with a jump kick, Robin. It's too predictable."

Heaving himself to his feet again, Robin spat, "Don't criticize me. You're no teacher of mine."

"Robin, Robin, Robin. How little you understand. You were always like that, especially in the beginning."

His mask showed his surprised eyes. "What are you talking about?"

He could hear the Titans battling Slade's robots, but couldn't tell who was winning. His mind was a swirl of questions. Questions, but no answers.

But there was one who had answers. Slade allowed a smile to escape from behind his mask. "Let's talk somewhere more private." Robin had no time to react. Several of Slade's robots grabbed his arms and legs tightly, while one rammed a needle into his neck.

"Good night, Robin."

* * *

His head pounded like thunder. His body screamed in pain that had long since been delayed from the fight. His eyes swam, making the dark room look as if it were underwater. He fought to swim to the surface of consciousness.

Yet it was shock that he first registered. Someone had the kindness to actually put him on a cot and cover him with a blanket! As he looked around, taking in his surroundings, he noticed the wizened old man standing in the corner, where a light issued seemingly from the wall.

The old man, refusing to even acknowledge the fact that Robin was awake, walked over to the table near where Robin lay and poured a cup of tea.

"So Robin. You're awake. One sugar or two?"

The boy twisted around to face the owner of the voice. A scowl appeared on his face as he realized who had spoken. Slade.

"I don't drink tea."

"I seem to remember differently." Robin waited. "I seem to remember Alfred disliking the fact that you usually took three sugars when he wasn't looking."

Robin was too stunned to speak. Finally, after several moments of struggling to compose himself, he spat through clenched teeth, "How. Did. You. Know. That?" Slade just smiled. "Will you take your tea if you have three sugars, Robin?" The seemingly mute old man plopped three sugar cubes into the cup.

"I'M NOT DRINKING THAT!" Robin screamed when the old man offered the cup, knocking it out of his hands. Slade was beside Robin in an instant, gripping his wrist tightly. "You're acting like a spoiled brat. I raised you better then that! Listen to me, you _will _clean that mess up and you _will _apologize for your rude behavior."

Robin glared, hating Slade, hating the old man, hating being treated like a small child. "Let go of me. Don't touch me anymore. DON'T TOUCH ME!"

Robin continued to struggle uselessly against Slade's iron grip. Then, at that moment, Slade's previous words finally breached the recesses of his mind. "You…You raise me? No...No, Batman did…You're crazy…" All energy seemed to leave Robin at that moment.

He slumped forward, letting his hair hang in his face. "Batman did," he mumbled. "You could never be half the man he was."

"Wrong again, Robin. I **am **that man."

Robin shook his head mutely, tears falling from his face. Then he found his voice. "Y-you can't be. You just can't. " he realized that he sounded about three years old, but he didn't care. It didn't matter. Nothing did. "No. _No. NOOO!_" the last word was a scream, a howl, all the pain and rage Robin had felt in the past few hours.

Then, Slade did something that dashed all Robin's questions, thoughts, and hopes. He removed his mask to reveal the good looking features of a particularly famous billionaire playboy.

"See Dick? I am. Screaming won't change anything. It never has, and it never will."

His mouth opened in a silent scream. "W-why?" Robin was shaking horribly now. This did not go unnoticed by the man in front of him. A sudden rush of concern engulfed Slade-now Bruce Wayne. "Son, sit back down on the bed, I'll explain…"

Robin's anger resurfaced all at once. "YOU'RE NOT MY FATHER! YOU'LL NEVER BE MY FATHER! NEVER! DAD'S DEAD. HE'S _DEAD!"_

Bruce tried to guide Robin to the cot, but to no avail.

"AND _YOU. _YOU HURT THEM! MY **_FRIENDS!_** WHAT DID THEY DO? HUH, BRUCE? WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU?"

He room echoed with the child's rage several moments afterwards. When all had fallen silent again, Bruce answered in a quiet voice. "They got between me and my child…" Robin was silent, shaking again. He thought of them, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, Cyborg. Screaming in pain as nanoprobs destroyed their bodies from inside. Turning to face hundreds of robots, without a second thought. Fighting, just so he could get an answer. 'Well Robin, you have your answer. How do you like it?'

"Bruce, why did you hurt _me_?" He asked, allowing himself to be taken back to the cot. The pain in his father- his former father's eyes was evident. "You wouldn't have come back. I was just going to get you back, but it just escalated. I've been neglecting Gotham. Alfred thinks that I'm off helping Superman, or something. But I've been here. Watching, waiting for my boy."

He looked away, his throat suddenly dry. "I just wanted to protect you."

"I've heard that before. 'It's to protect you, Dick. You can't be Robin anymore, Dick.' Well you know what? I'm always Robin now. And I don't need a Batman anymore."

Bruce turned to face the boy again. "But you still need a father." Robin considered that.

"I guess. But I can't have one who hurts my friends."

He stood there, contemplating everything that that had been said to him in the past few minutes. All the pain, all the betrayal, all the heartbreaking. At last nodding to Robin, Bruce spoke one last time. "I'm still your father, regardless of what you say. But you need time. I think we both do. Goodbye, _son_. We'll be in touch." Then, he did what he had been trained to do. He disappeared into the shadows.

Robin followed the still-silent old man out, after apologizing and cleaning up the spilled tea. After all, you do what your father says.

As he exited Slade's stronghold, a bizarre- to most- sight met his eyes.

A huge African-American boy, whose size was made up partially by the fact that he was part robot, two girls hovering above his head, shouting gleefully. A green dog was leaping about his feet. Robin smiled.

This was his family.

As long as he was with them, he was home.

The End

Authors note: Well! That was fun. We kinda didn't want to leave the Robin and Batman relationship on a high note, for obvious reasons, but we didn't want to leave it a horrid mess either.** I think this story turned out really awesome! And loooooooong! **Seeing as how we had no real plan when we started this thing, I suppose it's okay. We were playing around a little with the idea of making this story several chapters long, but ultimately decided that a one-shot would just be better.** It turned out really well, and making it too much longer might have ruined it. Don't ya think? By the way, we both really want to know what you think, so review! I'll reply if I can, and Wiley Card will reply via PM or E-mail.** Thanks for your time everyone, I have a feeling this isn't the only story M.D. and I will be writing together, but now it's time for us to sign off. **Bye!**

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **

_**Formerly on Mulch Diggum's account**_


End file.
